10 Wrestlers Who Turned Down Title Reigns

8. X-Pac

Shawn Michaels World Title
WWE.com

First thing's first, the term 'X-Pac Heat' needs to be removed from wrestling parlance. Sean Waltman was one of the best wrestlers of a generation, a genuine trailblazer who paved the way for smaller guys in the business and had a conveyor belt of great matches along the way. If anything, 'Jeff Jarrett Heat' makes a lot more sense, right?

Despite his excellence, X-Pac found himself stuck in the cruiserweight/lower midcard part of the roster, winning WWE Light Heavyweight and European Championships regularly without really advancing. By the time the Monday Night Wars came to a close in 2001, Waltman could be forgiven for thinking he was in line for a more prominent space on the card. Instead, he found himself exactly where he had been beforehand, feuding with Tajiri over the Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Championships.

X-Pac did all he could to avoid this, largely because it meant less money. However, the former Syxx is unique in this list in that he was unable to avoid his destiny. Vince McMahon got his way, and X-Pac was the junior heavyweight champion once more. Two months later he dropped the title to Billy Kidman, and that was Waltman done in a position of any prominence in WWE.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.